It has always been said that the line up the east coast of Britain was the better one for connections to Scotland from London. This was put down to the terrain which tended to be flatter than the west coast with the possibilities of more straight stretches of line facilitating the greater possibility of achieving fast speeds. In fact in the 1930s(3rd July 1938), the fastest speed still standing for a steam engine (LNER Mallard), was achieved on this line at 126 mph (203kph). There were also no great lengths of line in England that were impeded by hills and mountains. That was only the case in Scotland where the route had to go more slowly along the coast between Newcastle and Edinburgh.
The WCML has a length of 642kms. which is 10 kms. longer than the ECML but has almost always tended to have more traffic using it, long-distance, commuter rail and freight.
I cannot give you the length of the whole west coast line from London to Scotland after my proposed new lines,renewals and up-grading. However, I can do so on the length of lines from Lancaster to Glasgow (west coast) and from York to Edinburgh (east coast) which start at roughly the same latitude, 54º02´ versus 53º57´ .
Under my proposals, as seen in my previous article, the west coast line (HS2) from Lancaster to Glasgow would come in at 254.5kms.while the east coast line (HS3) would come in at 286kms. A difference of 31.5kms.That is a very similar distance considering the differences between the routes.
The ECML (East Coast Main Line) was the name given to the main rail route from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh via Doncaster, York, Darlington and Newcastle. However, it cannot be taken in isolation as the East Midlands Line is part and parcel of the same route up to Leeds. It runs through Bedford, Leicester, Loughborough and Chesterfield to Sheffield. Up to the present that is considered the end of the line while logic demands it be extended to Leeds(and/or Bradford). That is not the case because of the atrocious network of railways between Sheffield and Leeds, inherited and never up-dated, from the original constructors in the 19th Century.
If the ECML is split in three parts we find that each length comes out as follows....
Kings Cross - York 303kms.
York - Newcastle 129kms.
Newcastle - Edinburgh 200kms.
TOTAL ECML 632kms.
If we look at the up-dated, improved, straightened line, we can call it HS3 (High Speed 3 - as an extension of HS2). Then each length comes out the following way....
Kings Cross - York 297kms.
York - Newcastle 121kms.
Newcastle - Edinburgh 165kms.
TOTAL HS3 583kms.
Saving on new route 49kms.
Let us look at the line in its three stages.
1- Edinburgh - Newcastle
This is the worst part, and slowest because of the terrain.
The present ECML runs along the coast from Edinburgh to Newcastle (white line).Constructing the fast line (HS3 - the blue line) will save 35 kms. on that part of the route, while still avoiding all designated areas of natural beauty. Surely this should be a must in the usually difficult terrain of Scotland. It is shorter, more direct, and with more gradual inclines to pass over the intermediary landscape. A two-track system would be quite sufficient to accommodate High Speed trains, fast freight trains and fast regional trains which could have `passing loops at intermediate stations, such as Newcraighall, Mayfield, Coldstream, Newcastle Airport. These stopping trains would be similar to the Javelin services out of St. Pancras to the Kent coast. In fact all the HS trains could stop at Newcastle Airport as a matter of course.
2- Newcastle - York
The section from Newcastle to York is one of the easier ones to bring up to scratch. The most important part is between the towns of Chester-le-Street and down to Northallerton, or further down to Thirsk. There are some sections which can gain a lot of line speed by straightening. The terrain is no big problem so probably could provide us with two fast tracks within a year. The saving in track distance would be 8 kms. which is not too great but could make a big difference in line speeds.
3)- York - Kings Cross
There are several stretches along this stage which require either, straightening or increasing to four tracks. They are not difficult to achieve as was the line from Newcastle to York. The markers point out the most important sections. The most notorious section, however, is that between Knebworth South and Welwynn Garden City North. It is less than 4.5 kms in length but is a bottleneck. There is no excuse which can justify leaving this problem for so long. Four-tracking the section is a must though somebody will feel badly treated as a result. I do not offer a solution as the people on the ground in that area can perhaps offer better and more satisfactory solutions. I only have to remind you that there are three solutions --- over, under or round --- whichever is the most satisfactory.
The rest of the line into London offers no great problems except for the volume of traffic. This is inevitable in a big city, and might make a new line construction the only solution for future expansion.
Along the whole section from York to London the distance saved only comes to 6kms. but it would improve the service substantially.
The (East) Midlands Main Line(MML):
Initially the MML is considered to go from London St.Pancras to Sheffield. It has been electrified to Corby and Market Harborough which are just south of Leicester. Since the whole line is going to be electrified, at some point (we do not know when) we will look at this line from south to north The next stage being electrified is the short section up to Wigston just south of Leicester.
I cannot make much comment on the stage from here to Sheffield as we do not know the specific plans. I can only speculate as I have done on the map. There are various parts where line straightening could be made, especially in the part from Old Whittington (just north of Chesterfield) to Sheffield.
From Sheffield logic dictates that the line continues north from Sheffield to Leeds (and Bradford). As the lines between these cities are very windy I can only propose a solution as shown on the map. This should solve the problem of the slow, windy line, offering a much faster alternative through Barnsley to Wakefield. There one branch would continue to Leeds while another would branch off left to Bradford. I should point out that the section from Wakefield to Leeds would be the same as the one that forms part of the ECML from London Kings Cross to Leeds.
These improvements to the ECML/HS3, and the MML are so important yet not so significant in distance or works, that I cannot understand why they have not been attacked before. The gains are tremendous and could alter the balance between west and east to the benefit of the latter -- which is something politicians have been aiming for during decades. Now is the time to go ahead.
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